ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
ACLCA hosts activities and events that spotlight innovative approaches to accelerating the implementation, and building capacity and knowledge in environmental LCA.
Upcoming Activities and Events
Events
LCA in Academia Series: Emissions at scale: dynamic LCA of vehicle fleets and energy system interactions
October 27, 2023 at 2PM (ET)
I. Daniel Posen, Associate Professor, University
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LCA has traditionally been developed and applied to individual technologies with a focus on results normalized to each functional unit. In a world of climate targets and sweeping technological shifts, however, there is a need to assess environmental impacts at a larger scale – looking at aggregate and cumulative emissions across technology fleets. This talk will provide an overview of recent and ongoing work in the Sustainable Systems Research Group to extend LCA and life cycle thinking to entire systems. Specifically, it will focus on examples from transportation and energy systems. This will include applications of the Fleet Life Cycle Assessment and Material Flow Estimation (FLAME) model to investigate pathways for meeting greenhouse gas budgets within the U.S. passenger vehicle fleet, and related analyses in both the U.S. and Canada demonstrating interactions between electric vehicle deployment and resulting emissions from the electric grid or broader energy system.
LCA in Academia Series: The future of the planet is frightening! Using LCA to help keep Earth safe
October 31, 2023 at 1PM (ET)
Reed Miller, Asst. Professor; University of Maine Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Advanced Structures & Composites Center
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This Halloween, we'll look at the latest scientific evidence showing that many of Earth's critical systems are moving into frightening new states. We can no longer disguise the need for urgent action. LCA is a tool that has the power to inform a range of personal, R&D, business, and governmental decisions by identifying hotspots and determining witch alternative is preferable. However, I'll argue that just using LCA in this typical fashion isn't the potion that will avert a grim future. I'll discuss decoupling society's impact from wellbeing, demonstrate the issue with 'carbon tunnel vision' in LCA with a case study on aviation, and treat you to a few tricks for prioritizing technologies and sectors for analysis with EIO-LCA.
Webinar: LCA in Electronics
November 15, 2023 at 11:00 AM (ET)
Dr. Constantin Herrmann. Director of Sustainability Consulting, Manufacturing & Electronicsat Sphera (and formerly thinkstep)
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Join us for a webinar that delves into the world of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as applied to the electronics industry. Dr. Constantin Herrmann, will provide an exploration of LCA and its integral role in shaping the sustainable future of the electronics sector.
LCA in Academia Series: A Current State of LCA in Academic Medicine
November 16, 2023 at 3:00 PM (ET)
Jonathan E. Slutzman, MD, Director, Center for the Environment and Health, Medical Director for Environmental Sustainability, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
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While LCA has been in use for decades in many industries, it’s a relatively new tool in the world of medicine and health care. However, in the last few years, the number of published LCAs in academic literature has increased greatly, showing considerable growth in LCA thinking and activity in the field. In this talk, Dr Jonathan Slutzman, an environmental engineer and practicing physician, will briefly review the state of LCA in academic medicine and then discuss a few of the projects on which he is working. These include LCAs of radiation oncology care, telemedicine, and a medical conference, as well as an effort to develop standards for reporting LCAs in health care.
LCA in Academia Series: LCA in Academia: Assessing the environmental impacts of lithium extraction from domestic resources in United States
November 21, 2023 at 4:00 PM (ET)
Dr. Ehsan Vahidi, Assistant Professor & Butler Endowed Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno
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Lithium has been utilized in lithium-ion batteries used in various high-tech devices. Despite the vast applications of lithium in clean-energy technologies, its production is associated with environmental impacts. However, due to a lack of data, a handful of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been conducted on lithium production, most of which are for the production pathways from brines and hard rocks. In this investigation, a comprehensive LCA on lithium carbonate production from clay deposits in Nevada was conducted. LCA was done separately for all stages, from mining to concentrating and producing lithium carbonate. Finally, a benchmarking study was conducted, and the results were compared with the lithium carbonate production routes in South America from brine and in Australia and China from hard rock resources.
Consultant Coffee Chat
Third Thursday every Month at 11 am (ET)
Mornings for some, open to all ACLCA consultant members join us at the ACLCA Consultant Coffee Chat! Coffee Chats are run “Open Space” style, meaning whoever comes are the right people and whatever we discuss are the right things. Register to enjoy in-depth conversations and gather new insights and practical tools while networking to grow your expertise and connections.
PAST EVENTS
Environmental LCA in Design (eLCAd2023): Co-creating Sustained and Measurable Climate Action
March 28 - 30, 2023
The third annual Environmental Life Cycle Assessment focuses on the most recent developments in Policy, Education, and Communications as they play out at the intersection and execution of Life Cycle Assessment and Design. Join us during this three-day online spring event. Interact with a growing international community of practitioners, working together to design and develop commercially viable interventions to improve the environmental profile of the industrial economy one product, one building, one infrastructure component at a time.
Briefing: GSA’s Standard for Low Carbon Construction Materials
February 7, 2023 at 8:30 AM (ET)
VIEW THE REPLAY HERE
Join ACLCA experts for a briefing on the GSA’s Standard for Low Carbon Construction Materials. Find out what you need to know as a LCA pracitioner and action that is needed before the comment period ends. Please find resources on this issue below:
Introduction to EC3 Uncertainty
GSA draft IRA Low Embodied Carbon Material Standards - 1-25-2023 (002)
2022.12.22 Interim Determination on Low Carbon Materials under IRA 60503 and 60506_508
Introduction to EC3 Uncertainty